Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 922: Have you seen the goddess?

After Metien's insightful attack, Leticia finally gave up this dangerous idea. She stretched out her arms and legs in a big letter, lying decadently on Metien's small bed, muttering: "But in this way, we can't do anything, right?"

"What you said means that we can't do anything."

Xie Mi said it perfunctorily. She had already accepted the fact that she was a waste... uh, a mascot, so her mentality was much better than Leticia.

Leticia glared at her, but was too lazy to argue with this unambitious guy. She turned over and faced the wall. Out of sight of her friends, a look of worry flashed in her blood-red eyes.

For some reason, as the dreams of the past became more and more frequent, the ominous premonition in the little bat's heart became stronger. She often stared at the gloomy ceiling when she woke up from a dream, and the smell of rust and mold lingered faintly at the tip of her nose. But when she came to her senses, she realized that it was neither rusted iron nor rotten mold, but blood.

It is said that the closer one is to death, the more one can feel its presence. Soldiers, mercenaries and explorers who often walk on the edge of a knife are even known as those who walk with the god of death. However, their feelings about death may not be as profound as Leticia's, because she is not a person who walks with the god of death, but a person who challenges the god of death. In the reincarnation repeated thousands of times, although she has never won, she has never failed. This has trained her to have an amazing sense of smell for death. No matter how far away, the little bat can keenly capture the damp, dark, and uncomfortable breath that has never made people so uncomfortable.

The appearance of Xino seemed to indicate that in the future, this distance would be shortened. From now on, everyone on the Cloud Whale Sky Island would brush shoulders with the cold death at the closest distance. If they were not careful, they would be crushed to pieces.

Although Alice proposed a seemingly reasonable solution, that guy was too naive. He only thought about the problem from an ideal perspective, but never considered that any careful plan could not prevent the sudden attack of fate. Accidents always follow like a shadow, especially for people like them; however, the little bat could not refuse Shino from joining the team. The power of the Girls' Kingdom can only be gathered together to fight against the Witch Society.

In order to win, sacrifices must be made, which Leticia can understand, because as she herself said, she has seen enough on the battlefield, but what she cannot accept is that such sacrifices happened to the people of Yunjingkong Island.

There was one thing she had always kept secret from everyone, not even her grandmother, which was that as she reincarnated again and again under the prayers of a certain priest, she was able to remember more and more people. In addition to her grandmother and Lingge, she later remembered Metien and Shemi, as well as Saint Shalia, who was usually very gentle but became very strict when it came to class, Olvera, who always looked sleepy, Iyeta, who liked to wrap herself up with wings like a fat quail, Rolena, who had bad intentions all day long, the eldest sister Shesta and the second sister Shelia, who were deeply feared by Shemi, and even the little sun who was responsible for guarding the herb garden but was always dozing off...

Among these people, some left a deep impression on her, while others she had only just remembered. However, she was very confident about this and insisted that as long as she gave herself enough time, one day she would remember everyone on Yunjingkong Island in her mind and would never forget them.

The premise is that you have to give her time... What if everyone disappears before she remembers and completely disappears from her memory?

Leticia would never allow this to happen, and it seemed that the only thing she could do was to donate her blood and share the pain of death with everyone one day in the future.

She knew that neither her grandmother nor Lingge, nor even everyone on the Cloud Whale Sky Island, would agree to her plan, so she secretly found two friends to discuss it, planning to let Xie Mi attract Xie Liya's attention, and then she would secretly mix her blood into the bartender's masterpiece when everyone was not paying attention, and then Metien would come forward to deliver it to them. For the sake of the pink-haired little girl, even if it was the bartender's masterpiece, everyone would still give face and drink it, right?
The whole plan was perfect. Leticia was very proud of her own cleverness and thought it would be impossible to come up with a more perfect plan.

Unfortunately, it failed at the first step.

The little bat had calculated everything, except that he didn't expect that Metien would oppose his plan.

Aren’t we good friends? Leticia cried in her heart.

It is because we are good friends that I want to stop you! Metien's answer was so natural that it was impossible to refute it.

Ah, what are you talking about? Only Shemy didn't understand what was going on, which shows that he is a qualified useless... mascot.

Leticia looked at Metien, who had a determined and uncompromising look on his face, and then looked at Shemi, who had a confused and silly look on his face. After pondering for a while, she suddenly lost confidence in the future. She simply turned over and curled up on the quilt, looking like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

what should I do?

If this goes on, sooner or later there will be a situation where Xino will have to take action, and by then it will be too late, right?

But what Metien said seemed to make sense.

If only there was a way to have the best of both worlds.

The little bat couldn't help thinking, at this moment, she suddenly heard a soft voice coming from the side: "Don't worry, Leticia, it's useless for you to worry here alone."

Leticia opened her eyes and found that the pink-haired girl had walked to the bedside at some point. She stretched out her finger and gently poked her cheek, smiling and said, "I don't know what you are afraid of, but no matter what the problem is, Lingge will definitely find a way to solve it!"

After hearing her comfort, Leticia felt a little better. However, a certain name mentioned by Metien made her mood worse. The little bat curled his lips and said, "You trust him so much."

"Of course, because he is Lingge!"

"But I don't believe it."

"Hey, why?"

"Because he's Linger."

"Well."

Medien was speechless. In fact, she sometimes felt that Leticia's attitude towards Lingge was very strange. Whenever she mentioned him, she always spoke with disdain, as if she didn't like him very much. But every time the full moon came and Lingge wanted to pray for her, she never refused, and sometimes even took the initiative to make a request - although that imperative tone could not really be considered a request.

Besides, Lingge was the first person she remembered besides Countess Nevile. But the Countess was not forgotten because she drank Leticia's blood, while Lingge had clearly rejected her blood, allegedly because he disliked her unhygienic nature. Could it be that it was this overly straightforward tone that aroused Leticia's rebellious psychology and made her remember it deeply?
That’s enough. Where did you come from? Are you a rebellious little girl?

Metien looked at Leticia, who was still curled up on the bed and blinking at him, and felt a little helpless: "Since you don't believe Ling Ge, you should believe me, right?"

"Of course!" Leticia replied, "Of course I believe you, Metien!"

"I believe it too." Xie Mi, who was eating pudding on the table, took the time to agree.

"Shut up." Leticia looked up and glared at her, baring her sharp fangs as if to assert her sovereignty: "Metien is talking to me now!"

"Tsk!" Xie Mi snorted disdainfully, retracted her gaze, and continued to deal with the pudding in front of her. She was not afraid, but because this guy was in a bad mood, she reluctantly gave Metien to her.

Medien was already used to the sudden competitive spirit of these two people, so he didn't take it to heart. He just laughed twice and said, "Since you believe me, don't worry too much. I promise you, there will be absolutely no problem!" Leticia didn't say anything, but just looked at Medien with suspicion, wondering how she could be so confident.

Although she values ​​her friend Metien very much, she will not lose her ability to judge because Metien is just a little girl of fifteen or sixteen years old, not a powerful magician. Even if she is a great magician, she should be powerless when facing the issue of the girl's royal power, right?

"Well, if I say this is a premonition, would you believe it?"

"Premonition?"

"Yes, I feel that no matter what the process is, everyone will be fine in the end. That's the feeling I have."

That seemed to be exactly the opposite of my hunch.

Leticia couldn't help but think about it, but she didn't say it out loud, because she wasn't sure whose premonition was more accurate. If she had to say, it should be Lingge or Saint Shalia. After all, the latter is the most mysterious king of destiny, and the former is also a magician who walks the path of destiny... but he is very weak, and she can beat ten of him with one hand.

It has nothing to do with that guy. I was chatting with Metien, why did I suddenly think of that guy?
Leticia snorted in her heart, and then made a decisive decision: "I believe you, Metien!"

"that would be great!"

Metien smiled happily. Seeing her smile, Leticia was also happy and felt that she had made the right decision.

That’s right, no one would believe Ling’s premonition, it’s better to believe Metien’s premonition!

Because she is——

Huh?
What is Metien?

Just now, there seemed to be an inexplicable feeling that flashed through the little bat's mind like lightning, making her remember something very important in a trance. But this feeling only lasted for a moment, not even enough time for a complete breath, and then it disappeared without a trace, and there was no trace of it anymore. In Metien's eyes, Leticia was just unconsciously stunned for a moment, and when she came back to her senses, a look of confusion flashed in her eyes.

"What's wrong with you, Leticia?" she asked her friend with concern.

"No, nothing." Leticia shook her head blankly and said to herself: "Maybe, maybe, maybe... it's just an illusion?"

"Pfft!"

Meitian couldn't help laughing out loud: "Why are you talking more and more like Sister Alice? This is not good. If Sister Xiaoxia finds out, you will be criticized again."

This sentence woke Leticia up from her trance, and she shuddered in disgust: "I don't want to be like her! Metien, don't say such disgusting things to me in the future!"

"Hahaha, okay, I was just joking."

Seeing that his friend finally recovered his spirits, Medien breathed a sigh of relief, and then urged Leticia to get up from the bed quickly and not to wrinkle her sheets. The little bat who was kicked out of the bed could only vent his anger on Shemi, and turned around and ran to grab her pudding. The two of them fought with each other in the room, and the noise was so loud that it could be heard clearly even in the first floor hall where the banquet was being held. Medien vaguely heard the voices of the proprietress and the countess communicating with each other downstairs, but the content of the communication might not be so friendly to the two friends.

She had no intention of intervening in the pudding war between the two, so she walked to the window alone, opened it, and looked out at the deep and quiet night outside the hotel. The sea of ​​trees reflected the lights on the island, and the streets connecting the various parts of Yunjingkong Island were illuminated by warm orange light, like a bright ribbon surrounding the entire island, embellishing a warm atmosphere. Looking further away, the silver moon rose from the direction of Sumiya City, but its light was completely covered by the brightly lit city, as if a colorful and dazzling galaxy was winding across the earth, and the lights merged into an ocean, which was beautiful beyond words.

As the most famous international city in the Grindelwald Plains, and during the period of the Wind Flower Ball Championship, the sea of ​​lights in Sumia City will continue to flicker until two or three in the middle of the night, and the fire will never go out, just like the party downstairs.

Taking advantage of the time when her two friends didn't notice her, the pink-haired girl let out a breath, slightly easing her heavy mood. At this moment, her eyes were unprecedentedly deep and thoughtful, as if the little girl had grown up overnight and started to have adult worries.

Just now, Leticia asked her how she could guarantee that nothing would go wrong. She said she relied on her hunch, but that was actually a misleading answer. What she really wanted to say was... pray.

She would pray to the great goddess of creation in the rebuilt Tianxin Church, praying that nothing would happen to anyone. This was the solution she came up with.

Sounds innocent, right?

But what if this kind of prayer really works?

Sister Livia once said that her prayers were the voice of her heart, and her desire to pray for someone would eventually reach that person's heart and help him to be saved.

Metien believed it firmly, not only because she was a devout believer of the goddess, prayer had already become an instinct and she had grasped its essence without thinking, but also because she had experienced that situation herself.

She didn't tell anyone, including her brother Lingge and Sister Livia who guided her - that night in Lunweiting, in the card game that decided life and death, when she appeared as the last hope, she saw the goddess.

The great and merciful goddess, who is brighter than light, deeper than darkness, and more inclusive than life, said to Metien in the distant nothingness: "I have heard your prayer."

"At this moment, that wish will begin to come true."

"Because that's what you expect."

……

"Metien, shape this world according to your expectations."

"my child."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)